Free Wisdom Online: Our China Trip

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We are finally done with the first part of our China/Russia trip and
are now in Vladivostok.  We started the trip in Shanghai where we flew
from SFO via Beijing.  After a day in Shanghai we caught a train to
Nanjing, the "Southern Capital" that had a lot of interesting
historical stuff (about 4 hours), we then retraced the same route back
stopping in Suzhou - a "small town" of 4,5 million people with tons of
beautiful garden.  We made a side-trip to Tongli, a small watertown,
before heading back to Shanghai.  After two more days in Shanghai we
flew to Beijing, spent a few days there, then flew to Harbin in the
north of China.  From Harbin we took a train to Suifenhe on the border
with Russia and the caught a bus across the border to Vladivostok.

It's been a long way of getting home for me, and quite a change of
perspective.  Once upon a time there were nearly direct flights from
SFO to Vladivostok, which made it feel like one of "world cities".
Now there are only a few left, which are all amazingly overpriced (a 2
hour flight from Seoul costs around US$800), and it actually turned
out flying to Harbin and then taking a train and bus was the cheapest
way to get to Vladivostok from SFO.  (Of course, saving money wasn't
the only motivation for taking the detour - we've been wanting to
visit China for a while.  And of course we spent all the money that we
saved and more while touring China.)  But the point is that instead of
seeming like a world city, Vladivostok feels like a remote place
somewhere off the northern end of China, which is already in the
middle of nowhere.  All in all, it was truly an Odysseyan homecoming
experience.

We are planing to stay in Vladivostok for three weeks, then get back
on the bus and train to Harbin, fly back to Beijing, then back to SFO.
The 1000 pictures of China (and maybe some of Vladivostok) will
hopefully all get uploaded before we head back.

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